UE BOOM review: The singing soda can

I never understood the need for a portable wireless speaker. Don’t get me wrong, I love my unnecessary gadgets. In fact I have an entire argument laid out about how I absolutely need a tablet/laptop hybrid even though I already have a laptop. desktop and phablet. That said, I just never saw the point of the Bluetooth speaker.

I’ll admit, I’m no audiophile. Nor was I born in the time frame where “Say Anything…” was a thing. So the notion of carrying around an extra, rather heavy and rather expensive device just to play my music out loud – something I personally detest – seemed incredibly perplexing.

Now that we’ve established my comic-book-esque origin story, we arrive at Ultimate Ears BOOM (UE BOOM). Bought over by Logitech in 2008, Ultimate Ears have been making audio equipment since 1995. Their latest device, the UE BOOM, is an RM799 Bluetooth speaker the size of a can of ping pong balls, designed to be rugged as a rock and perfect for when you need to play your music out loud for everyone to hear. I think you can see where this is going.

I thought so too when I started this review, but now, now I’m not so sure.

[nextpage title=”Build”]

Perhaps the biggest nod in the UE BOOM’s favour is its build and the way it looks. I love it. Sure it kind of looks like a soda can and that might put some of you off, but I think that’s a great little quirk.

From the side, the UE BOOM also looks a little like a pencil box, with that long rubberised strip running from the top of the speaker all the way to the bottom. The speaker grille is protected by a water resistant fabric, stitched in a crisscross pattern, encompassing the whole speaker. This rubber and fabric work together to give the speaker unit an IPX4 water-resistant rating, giving you peace of mind if you’re the type that wants to bring this into the bathroom for one of your shower-oke sessions.

At the front of the device you will find the enormous volume up and volume down keys which won’t work if you press anywhere other than dead centre. The button mechanism is built pretty solid and each button press is satisfyingly clicky through the rubber membrane.

Around the top of the device you will find the power and bluetooth pairing buttons, both of which share the volume rockers’ satisfying click. On the opposite end lies the micro-USB charging port with a little LED, a 3.5mm Aux-in jack and a ‘D-Ring’.

The D-Ring acts as a hook so you can clip the speaker to a backpack, attach to the wall or if you’re feeling baller enough, hang it from your neck. It can also be unscrewed to reveal a port that can be used to mount the speaker unit onto a tripod, bringing your music enjoyment to greater heights. Ultimate Ears also bundles a little rubber flap that fits between the D-Ring and acts as a cover for both ports for when things get a little wet.

Aesthetically, I think the UE BOOM looks great. It is simple, it is elegant and it can also fit into more cup holders than my actual cup. Sure, some party people may complain about the lack of an LED display running along the speaker grille, but I’ve always felt that to be a tad excessive.

I much prefer this sleek and clean design that is as inconspicuous as it is effective. Of course, during the day this is only inconspicuous if you get one in a colour other than Pink Vibe or Superhero, but if you’re using it in the dark, I don’t think the colour would matter that much.

The device is relatively small (about the size of a 500ml water bottle) and should fit easily in the palm of the average person. Its fabric and rubber construction gives it a good grip and also gives it limited protection against bumps and scratches. It is quite hefty though weighing in at 538g, so carrying it around for extended periods of time could lead to unwanted muscle development.

This thing is also built like a tank. Every part of the speaker tube fits fantastically well and I could not find any breaks in the seam where the fabric ends and the rubberised strip begins. The device doesn’t flex when pressure is applied and the fabric covering it doesn’t shift around either when it’s twisted or rubbed.

It had no problem surviving my bowl test either, when I rolled it across the floor at a row of neatly-stacked styrofoam cylinders. The rubber covering the top and the bottom of the speaker unit was also surprisingly resilient to scratches that can come from being placed on rough outdoor surfaces like gravel, sand and tarmac.

[nextpage title=”Usability”]

Powering on and pairing the UE BOOM is incredibly simple and requires almost no technical knowledge beyond knowing how to switch stuff on. To pair, simply switch on the speaker by pressing the power button once, then press and hold the dedicated Bluetooth button on the UE BOOM until it starts blinking.

Once that’s done, simply turn on the Bluetooth in the device you wish to connect to the speaker, pair with it and boom, you’re connected. The device also supports what Ultimate Ears calls a “double-up”, where you can daisy chain two separate UE BOOM speakers to either play as a double mono setup or in a left/right stereo configuration.

The double-up can be set up via the speaker’s dedicated app (search UE BOOM, available for Android and iOS) or with a complicated set of button presses I’m sure most of you wouldn’t bother to remember.

For those of you who will undoubtedly insist I explain how it can be done, what you want to do is press the volume up and Bluetooth button simultaneously on the first UE BOOM that is already connected to your playback device, then switch on the second UE BOOM speaker and press the Bluetooth button twice. An audible confirmation will be played upon a successful double-up.

See what I mean?

Besides doubling up, the dedicated app also brings a whole lot more functionality to your soda can speaker. First off, the app informs you if there are any pending updates for your UE BOOM, updates which could prove crucial to iron out any bugs with the device. The app also allows you to set custom equalisers, allowing you to tune the speakers to your liking, or pick from one of the 4 preset configurations.

If you turn on “Bluetooth Smart” the app allows you to remotely switch the UE BOOM on or off. However, if you have two speakers in a daisy chain and you switch the second one off remotely, you will have to physically switch it back on again.

For a device with only four physical buttons and no display, it will undoubtedly be an easy device to operate. Couple that with the dedicated app and almost anyone will be able to operate the speaker with ease.

If I had a bone to pick with the device as far as usability is concerned, it would be with the updates. As I touched on earlier, you will be notified of updates via the dedicated app, but to actually install the update on your UE BOOM, you would have to get the app to send you an email with a direct link to the download page.

After you’ve downloaded the update, you will then have to install the software on your computer and connect your speaker to said computer before finally being able to update it. Surely there has to be a simpler method to update a device which otherwise would have great usability.

[nextpage title=”Performance”]

Ultimate Ears markets the UE BOOM as a 360-degree speaker which means that the user should be able to get the same audio experience and quality regardless of their position relative to the speaker. In a sense, the UE BOOM does exactly that.

Short of holding the speaker right up to my ear, I was unable to detect any discernible difference in sound quality going round the UE BOOM. It’s really loud too – even outdoors – especially for its size. In fact, the first thing that caught my eye (ear?) when my colleagues were testing the speaker out, was how well the speaker enveloped the entire office in sound.

Audio quality is impressive as well. Vocal notes come out crisp and clear, and guitar riffs can be individually plucked out of a song’s bridge. Unfortunately the audio isn’t without fault as the UE BOOM falls rather flat when it comes to bass notes. Of course, you could use the app to tweak the equaliser or pick the “Bass Jump” preset, but that’s like placing a damp cloth over a raging fire: sure it’ll help, but it isn’t quite enough to put it out.

I will concede that with a portable speaker of this size, you can’t realistically expect the bass to be brilliant. But, this isn’t to say that the bass is unbearable as it’s still a whole lot better than most smartphone, laptop and tablet speakers.

Ultimate Ears rates the range of the UE BOOM at 50 feet, so to find out how far I could go in a practical environment, I placed my connected smartphone in the middle of my semi-detached house and took the speaker on a little tour of my residence.

Signal strength was very good throughout my house, with the sound only beginning to crackle and disconnect at the very fringes of my compound. The connection did not appear to have any problems with obstacles either, as it remained strong even when I went upstairs and behind closed doors.

The only significant connection issue was when we ran both review UE BOOM units in a daisy chain out of the box. There was a lot of crackling and instability especially in the second speaker which we figured was due signal interference between the speakers’ signal and our WiFi network. However, these problems were mostly resolved when we updated the device to its latest software.

Audio quality when running the double-up configuration in stereo mode is pretty good if you can find the sweet spot where the audio Venn diagrams overlap, though if you just want more volume or wider coverage, running it in dual mono seems to achieve the best result.

[nextpage title=”Verdict”]

I watched a lot of movies growing up and the one thing I always envied about characters in the movies was the fact that they had the perfect soundtrack for every moment in their life. So, even from a young age, I wanted my own soundtrack, my own mood music, really.

Now, even though I’ve left my childhood days far behind, I can’t really say that I’ve outgrown that desire. This, I think, is what makes the UE BOOM so special to me. In a way, it fulfills that desire.

You see, the UE BOOM is a speaker unit that combines a loud, crisp, and clear sound with a discrete, small form factor that takes up less space than an average bottle of water. This means I can tuck it away in one of my bag’s tiny pockets and forget about it while it plays music around me. Of course, I still wouldn’t use this device in a crowded public space because I don’t want to be that guy on the train, but for those times when I am by myself, or with good company, I can now have the perfect song playing in the background.

This isn’t just a solid, well-built, well-engineered wireless speaker, it’s become something that I’ve grown to adore over the course of this review. I love the way it looks, the way it delivers music, and the way it thrums when you hold it in your hand with the music playing. In fact, the only thing that would make me hesitate to get the UE BOOM is that expensive price tag, but even then, I don’t think I’d regret the purchase.

If the price is also your only concern, the UE BOOM is currently on sale in Malaysia. For more information, head on over to our post here.